"One Would Die Rather Than Speak ... about Such Subjects": Exploring Class, Gender, and Hegemony in Anya Seton's Dragonwyck

Here's what Jessica Van Slooten had to say in a review of the volume in the Journal of Popular Romance Studies:

Teaching Tainted Lit is divided into five sections; the most relevant section for romance readers, scholars, and teachers is “Gender, Romance, and Resisting Readers.”  The two essays in this section explore how students respond to romance novels, and provide strategies for encouraging students to move beyond reading for enjoyment, which is often a challenge when teaching popular fiction. In “’One Would Die Rather than Speak about Such Subjects: Exploring Class, Gender, and Hegemony in Anya Seton’s Dragonwyck,” Kathleen M. Therrien expands on the framing of the introduction by challenging the idea that there’s no “reward” in these texts, which “can be seen in the frequent use of the word ‘consume’ (as opposed to ‘read’) when popular fiction is discussed” (52). Therrien explains the challenges of teaching popular fiction and shares several successful strategies she’s used when teaching Dragonwyck, like guiding students to engage with gothic romance tropes—especially the process of reading and misreading—to explore the novel and the genre itself. This works particularly well with Dragonwyck, which contains “a remarkably astute and self-referential commentary on the reading of popular fiction itself” (55).